>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... Horten Municipality.

[ Bottle cap pops, clinks ] >> Ahh!

>> 62 degrees Nord.

[ Wind howls ] ♪♪ Kvaroy Arctic.

♪♪ Up Norway.

>> (Conversion in Norwegian) Det her var godt, it was amazing.

>> Rodseth: So simple, so good.

It's probably something about me sitting out with Johan Martin in Finnmarksvidda, as well, but this is actually really amazing.

♪♪ ♪♪ Hi, and welcome to "New Scandinavian Cooking," here from Kautokeino in Troms and Finnmark, Northern Norway.

I am Christer Rodseth.

It's late October and the winter has just arrived here in the far north.

We're in the Arctic region, on the vast plateau of Finnmarksvidda, where the reindeers in thousands roam freely now under the Northern Lights in the winter, and, in the summer, under the midnight sun.

This is so far away from everything that even my cellphone is not working as it's supposed to.

But lucky for me, I'm not alone.

Johan Martin and his family will guide me through some eventful days.

They are modern custodians of the Sámi tradition, herding reindeers.

Many people think that the best produce in Northern Norway is fish, but I agree to disagree.

The reindeer meat is my absolute favorite ingredient from the Arctic, and there will be several dishes in today's program.

I start off my northern adventure with reindeer loin on a sourdough toast with cream mushrooms.

>> Mmm.

>> Rodseth: And after a long day out in the Highlands, I'll prepare a tomato-braised reindeer shank with root vegetables and tarragon.

♪♪ I will also surprise my new friends and serve them a homemade reindeer sausage with a Golden Eye potato mash topped with a tasty green sauce.

I think it's amazing.

Let's see.

For today's menu, I will follow the Sámi culture and use different parts from the reindeer in my cooking.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Now, here in Kautokeino, I know behind me you can see Máttajohka which is a nice river.

And now if I say sourdough bread, toasted on the grill, with some lovely cream mushroom, there's gonna be mayonnaise with bone marrows, the loin of the reindeer, of course, and on top, some lovely crunch and French cheese.

What do you say?

I say lovely.

So now let's start off with mayonnaise.

I got one egg, 2 teaspoons of lovely mustard.

There's one clove of garlic.

There's oil, there's parsley.

And for the last ingredient, have a look here, in the grill.

I got grilled bone marrow.

You can see they're all caramelized.

I'm just gonna scrape out the marrow.

Just use a knife like this.

This is bubbling.

Look at that.

As an alternative, you can use bone marrow from beef.

♪♪ Just into the mayonnaise.

Get yourself a hand blender like this.

Now for your next trip to Kautokeino, make sure you bring your hand blender, otherwise you can't cook anything.

And now we're going to get some pans on.

Get some oil in.

Now look in here.

I got some beautiful chanterelles.

They're gonna be pan-fried.

And, of course, you can see I've got the fillet.

Beautiful loin of reindeer, some rosemary, thyme, and garlic.

So now let's go to the -- to the pan and get this cooking.

So let's get the beef cooking.

I've put the herbs in, as well.

Thyme and rosemary, a clove of garlic.

Some more salt on and some pepper.

Now while this is cooking just take the moment, enjoy the nature, enjoy the silence, and just listen to the meat cooking.

Oh, it's beautiful.

Oh.

Let's get some butter in and let the butter caramelize.

Let the butter get the flavor of the herbs and the garlic.

While this is going, I'll get the mushrooms in with some salt.

Just a small pinch.

Now let's give this meat some love and magic.

Now let the hot butter just almost like fry the herbs.

Now let's get the meat on the cutting board and let it rest for a while.

Like this.

Put the garlic on, as well.

And this butter here now is not going to go to waste.

This is circular economy on its best way.

Using it in the mushrooms, as well, to get the meat flavor, to get the garlic flavor, to get the herb flavor in the mushrooms.

I brought some sourdough bread.

But now when the Sámis are out on the Highlands, they're actually bringing something called fjellbrod, mountain bread.

It's quite sweet, but today it's all about the sour bread.

So let's get some oil on.

Just rub all the sides with the oil like this.

And let's get them on the grill.

And make sure while you're cooking outside, make sure to take a breath and just enjoy it because it's beautiful.

Straight onto the plate.

Let's finish this off with a couple of tablespoons with the sour cream.

Give this just a quick, quick stir.

And now we can start plating this lovely dish.

Nice big spoon of the bone-marrow mayonnaise.

Gonna put on the chanterelles.

Let's get the meat on.

A bit more salt on it.

It's nice with some color.

So I got some radish.

And now, even though we are here in north, north of Norway, I think it's nice to add a touch of France into the dish.

So I brought some Comté cheese.

A nice amount of cheese.

It doesn't have to be Comté.

Can be another hard cheese.

Just get quite a bit on there.

Of course, we have some potato chips on top, sprinkle on top.

And to finish it off, just tiny little cress.

Get some color on.

Now look at this beauty, huh?

It's ready.

Well, now it's time for me to sit down, eat this, save some energy.

Because now I'm going up to the Highlands.

♪♪ You can find all our recipes at our website newscancook.com.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Johan Martin will soon take me to the vast plateau, but, first, he will provide the cuts for our cooking.

And he introduces me to some traditional cutting techniques with respect for the animal that lived.

Herding reindeer is a very sustainable food production.

The reindeers eat scrubs and all kinds of herbs and mushrooms that grows on highland.

The animals roam freely under the Northern Lights here in the north.

This is how reindeers are kept in Norway, and the result is very good meat quality.

♪♪ ♪♪ We are far out on the plateau, about 25 miles -- 40 kilometers -- north of Kautokeino.

And it's good to have a guide and fixer when traveling light.

Fun and fast with a snowmobile.

Johan Martin has already set up a campfire for my cooking.

Nice.

Well, now, I'm going to grill some lovely bone marrow.

I have some lovely dry meat here.

I got fjellbrod, which is like this sweet bread with lots of sugar and syrup in it.

I got the coffee going on.

This is going to be amazing, I can promise you.

So now I'm just going to start off by putting these on.

And you can see here, as well, I got this whole -- whole bone.

This is something they normally eat out here in Vidda.

And I'm just going to grill these whole.

So when the Sámis are out in Vidda, they drink lots of, lots of coffee because they need coffee to keep -- stay warm.

Traditional but modern way.

I brought my V60, as you can see.

There's something really special about sitting here out in Finnmarksvidda.

It's only me, it's a campfire.

And let's just listen.

There's nothing.

No sirens, no cities.

Just the sound of lovely nature.

♪♪ Ahh.

♪♪ So I'm going to take my fjellbrod -- mountain bread -- cut a few slices.

So this bread can actually last for weeks while the Sámis are out on Finnmarksvidda and herding the reindeers, because this is so full of sugar that it doesn't mold even.

It's just -- it's really hard.

[ Tapping ] But when you grill it, it gets soft, beautiful, caramelized.

Just the way we love it.

Just a quick touch on the grill.

You can hear the sound of the bone marrows.

The bones can be taken off the grill.

It's done.

So now the bread, as well.

So I got this bread, as well.

It's called lepinja.

It's a hard bread.

It almost like -- Looks like it was for making a pizza, almost.

Just gonna break this up... and just give it a small -- small touch on the grill, just to get it heated up and get -- sort of get soft, as well.

So now we're just gonna take a small knife, just cut it out.

And it's so good because you can just serve this with a tiny bit of salt, and it's done.

Now I know I talked lots about reindeers today, but if you don't have reindeer available, go to your local butcher and ask for bone marrow from beef.

That, as well, is beautiful.

It's much more in the bone, as well.

But I'm not sure if it can match the feeling I'm feeling now out here in Finnmarksvidda.

Because this is something special.

I got some salt.

So now I got the dry meat.

I got some lepinja bread.

I have the fjellbrod -- mountain bread -- with the bone marrow.

It's time to get Johan Martin out and see if he likes this.

So, Johan Martin!

So I got some dry meat, of course.

We have the lepinja bread, and we have the mountain bread with bone marrow.

So -- And the coffee, of course, made by me.

>> Okay.

>> Rodseth: You ready for this?

>> Yes.

Can I take some reindeer?

>> Rodseth: Yes.

Please do.

So you're actually putting the reindeer fat in the coffee?

>> Yes.

It's lots of proteins.

And the coffee isn't the same then.

It's like a -- It's like a Red Bull.

>> Rodseth: It's like Red Bull?

>> It's power.

>> Rodseth: "It's like Red Bull."

It's not like Red Bull.

Well, okay.

Uh, get yourself a sandwich.

>> Mm-hmm.

Takk takk.

>> Rodseth: Skal.

>> Skal.

[ Munching ] >> Rodseth: Oh.

>> Mmm.

>> Rodseth: So nice.

Wow.

>> It was amazing.

>> Rodseth: So simple.

So good.

It's probably something about me sitting out with Johan Martin in Finnmarksvidda, as well, but this is actually really amazing.

So we have the dried heart, is it?

>> Mm-hmm, yes.

>> Rodseth: Yes.

>> Salted and dried.

>> Rodseth: Mm.

Oh.

So nice.

Well, it was nice, some food.

I think it's time to maybe, uh...go drive some scooter, maybe.

>> With the snowmobiles.

>> Rodseth: Snowmobiles?

Oh-ho-ho!

>> Okay.

♪♪ >> Rodseth: After a fresh hike far out in the plateau, it's time for the next dish -- braised reindeer shank.

It has been cooking for eight hours in the oven at 280 degrees Fahrenheit -- it's 140 Celsius.

It's perfect hiking food.

Almost done when you get home again.

So, hey, now I have some braised lovely reindeer shanks.

Now they're just gonna stand here and just rest while I just finish off this whole dish with some lovely roasted vegetables.

As well, I've taken the stock, I've reduced it, and I made a tomato concasse with some tarragon, which is going to finish off the sauce.

But first, now, the vegetables.

I have parsnip, I've got carrots in different colors.

I got some yellow beets and some small onions.

They're just gonna roast slowly here on the open fire with some butter and just a tiny bit of salt.

And it's going to be amazing.

So I'm going to start off with the parsnip.

Gonna cut this in two and down to just smaller pieces.

Just cut it, like, rustic and just big pieces.

Doesn't matter.

So you can see there's small onions, are just, like, whole, like this.

It doesn't matter.

Just peel them and just straight into the pan.

Same with the carrots, just down into pieces.

The beets, you can see, I've already finished, just straight into the pan with the rest.

So you can see I've placed the onions on the bottom of the pan just to make sure it gets, like, a bit more temperature than the other vegetables.

So tiny bit of salt.

Just a small click of butter in there, as well.

Tiny bit of oil.

And now this can just stand here and just make sure you keep keep an eye on it.

Don't leave it alone.

But it can just stand there and just slowly, slowly cook and have the time of its life.

♪♪ So the Sámi food culture, tell me, how has your life been with the -- with Sámi food and the traditional way of eating food?

>> It's very easy one.

We boil it, everything.

>> Rodseth: Everything is boiled.

>> Mostly.

>> Rodseth: Yeah.

So, what do you -- what would you like?

If you're gonna take one piece of meat you would like to fry in a pan?

>> I will take a smoked reindeer meat and make a good steak of it.

>> Rodseth: Mm.

>> Beef.

>> Rodseth: Well, in Norway, we have Taco Friday.

What do you have?

Bidos Friday?

>> We have Bidos Friday, yes.

That's one of the most popular food tradition in the Sámi.

It's been in generations.

>> Rodseth: I feel like you eat lots of protein.

It's like, Do you ever eat vegetables or no?

>> Never.

>> Rodseth: No?

It's bad for you, probably, yeah?

>> Not bad.

But we don't, uh -- we haven't learned to eat it.

>> Rodseth: Reindeer tastes so, so beautiful.

Why is that?

>> It's, uh -- It's eating all sort of the plants the nature gives in different times of the years.

>> Rodseth: Mm.

>> And it's living in peaceful and in wildness.

>> Rodseth: So I guess you're hungry?

>> Yes.

>> Rodseth: Yes.

Let's cook -- >> Smells delicious.

>> Cook up these shanks.

So now the vegetables, you can see they are roasted.

Lovely.

And they are absolutely beautiful.

And in the pot here now, the reindeer shanks are still warm.

I'm just going to put this on top like this.

Just a pinch of salt.

And now the sauce is finished.

I've added the tomato concasse with the tarragon.

So I'm just going to take some spoons over the shanks like this.

And this is going to be so nice.

And the sauce is just going to go down into the pan when it's hot and warm and get caramelized with the vegetables.

I think this is so cool.

You know?

Just look at this pan.

Beautiful shanks, glazed, all the vegetables caramelized.

Absolutely beautiful.

Looks amazing.

So, I really -- I love the flavor of reindeer.

And especially when you braise it like this, as well, because the shank is -- it's a really tender piece of meat, as long as you treat it in a good way.

So now I've braised this for three hours, which you should try, definitely.

And make sure, on the side, with the garnish, they can't have too much power.

It should be, like, sweet and just carefully just lifting the reindeer up.

So... >> It tastes wildness.

>> Rodseth: Tastes wildness, yeah.

It's actually -- yeah, it does.

Yeah.

Well, with that being said, it's more food to come.

>> Okay.

>> Rodseth: I cooked some more for you, so just sit tight, enjoy the heat.

I'll go out in the cold.

For more inspiration, visit our website, newscancook.com.

♪♪ So now I'm full of information.

I've learned so much about the Sámi culture and as well the Sámi food traditions.

And now it's my turn again.

I'm going to make a sausage in a nontraditional way with rosemary.

It's going to be spicy.

So I have some baked garlic and, in the end, a salsa verde.

So we're going to start off by mincing the meat.

I have here some meat from the leg of the reindeer with some beef fat.

So we're just going to add a bit of salt to it because this salt -- when you mince this now.

So when you're making coarse sausages like this, you don't want to mix it too much.

So it's really, really nice to actually mix the fat with the beef while you're grinding it because then you're not going to work too much with it and it's going to be much more juicy and, I can promise you, beautiful.

So now we're just going to add the last ingredients before we start mixing it.

So we have one egg white, some lovely roasted pepper and coriander seeds, and as well fennel seeds.

It makes this beautiful aroma.

I have, as well, rosé pepper.

And you can see I just have this flour sieve.

Just going to add a tiny bit in.

And you just use your hands, and you just press it like this 'cause then you can see the red, lovely flakes will come out.

One final ingredient is garlic.

This looks like a fresh garlic, but it's actually baked.

When it's baked, it gets sweet and it's, like, more juicy and tender.

It's not the hard garlic flavor.

So just take one clove into the mince like that.

And we're going to start mixing it up, really gentle just to make sure we keep this nice texture.

You can see these fat pearls are gonna stay in there and going to make it so juicy and beautiful.

So now it's time to actually make the sausages.

So now pay attention because this is really important.

So we put this together again and putting on this last bit.

Put the machine on.

And start feeding in your...

It's quite cool.

So a bit more.

And now that's it.

I'm just going to take this off gently and just cut it off.

So with this sausage, I'm gonna actually serve potato puree made on Golden Eye potato, which is actually a potato from this region.

It's Troms Finnmark.

It's a quite big region.

But it's from this region.

It's loaded with quite a bit of butter and milk, mostly butter.

Just add enough milk to make sure it's just like this.

And, as well, this sausage is gonna be pan-fried on medium-high heat.

Get some oil in, some butter as well, just a small spoon.

And today we're going to use rosemary.

That's going to give this perfume-like rosemary flavor to the sausages.

With this sausage, now you can see we have it all done.

We're just going to roll it together like this.

A rosemary stalk to make sure it holds together while it's cooking.

Just put the whole thing in the pan.

Make sure it's nicely and, like, have this roasted color on one side before turning it on.

And just going to take a couple of minutes because it's quite thin.

While this is cooking, I'm gonna make a salsa verde.

Salsa verde is many things, but today I'm going to use celery.

Just going to chop that up in some small dices into a bowl.

Just take a nice pinch of parsley.

I'm gonna just cut it really, really rough because this is a rough vinaigrette.

So you don't have to be too nicely cut.

Like that, in the bowl.

And something else which I really, really love, especially with meat actually, is grilled lemons.

You see you get this caramelized, beautiful flavor, which is going to give a nice touch to this vinaigrette.

Just squeeze half a lemon in and, as well, some shallots.

In there with it.

Now you're gonna just flip the sausage with a small spatula.

It smells beautiful.

You got the lovely herbs in the butter, and you're just gonna make sure you just get it on the sausage and make sure it sets the flavor.

Tiny bit of butter into the puree just to get it, like, all greasy and really, really fluffy.

We're gonna use some olive oil just to finish off the vinaigrette.

After, we need some lemon zest.

So just use the zest of almost a whole lemon.

Give it a nice little mix.

And it's actually time to serve.

The normal way to do it in the Sámi culture is using blood and flour, but now it's something else.

It's a bit more modern.

We're gonna get a nice big spoon of the potato puree.

So full of fat.

It's so beautiful.

Get it on.

Tiny bit of this beautiful little salsa verde like that.

And just to finish it off, a tiny bit of rosemary on top.

Get a nice one.

Potato puree.

You can see with the sausage.

You have the salsa verde.

I think it's amazing.

Let's see.

For recipes and more, visit our website, newscancook.com.

♪♪ Impressed?

>> Yes.

It looks delicious.

>> Rodseth: It's a bit different from probably what you normally eat, but this is -- I think you're gonna like it, with a small amount of potato puree and a lovely little small -- You're laughing?

It's a small amount.

It's nice, this.

So inside this has lots of spices.

It's garlic.

Lots of butter in it.

Lots of butter in it.

You have the salsa verde.

So hopefully you like this.

I know it's a bit different from what you normally eat.

So leage buorre.

It's like "you're welcome" or "start eat" in Sámi.

Mmm.

>> Mmm.

>> Rodseth: I've had worse.

[ Conversing in Sámi ] Thank you so much for welcoming me here up to Finnmark.

It's been beautiful and really interesting days, I think.

>> Thanks for you coming.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> For more of the "New Scandinavian Cooking" experience, visit our website and social media.

♪♪ Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... Horten Municipality.

[ Bottle cap pops, clinks ] >> Ahh!

>> 62 degrees Nord.

[ Wind howls ] ♪♪ Kvaroy Arctic.

♪♪ Up Norway.